Teacher Feature: Classkick with Michelle Moon’s Class

For our first “teacher feature” of this school year, I had the pleasure of visiting Mrs. Moon’s fourth grade class at Discovery Elementary to see how her students are using Classkick to demonstrate their mathematical thinking! In math workshop, students are in three differentiated stations: one group works on Classkick/Zearn using iPads independently, a second group receives strategy instruction on Eureka math, and the final group is a math game station. In this set-up, students complete math with pencil/paper, as well as using technology.

Mrs. Moon assigns one Classkick assignment per week – which makes preparation easy. Each page can be added on as the assignment develops, or she can assign all pages at the beginning of the week. Currently, Mrs. Moon assigns the entire week beforehand, and then gives students a choice – they can do just one Classkick problem per day, or they can work ahead. They move to Zearn afterwards in this station, so that way if they complete the Classkick problems earlier, they have longer blocks of time to work through Zearn.

Students access their Classkick assignment with a “code” which means there is no logon information to remember! They use the same code for the week. When Mrs. Moon logs on to her Classkick teacher view, the week’s work is organized easily. 

Snapshot of a Session

The session that I visited entailed students working with multiples and rectangle area (i.e. 12 x 8; 4 x 24). Below is an image of one student’s work on Classkick, and conversations had with other students while they were working. When completing assignments, students both use the drawing feature and the textbox feature to best explain their thinking. 

 Aly: So, you use Classkick to show your work?

 Student: Yeah, to make her [Mrs. Moon] understand.

 Aly: What do you like about Classkick?

Student: Classkick really helps me. I need to show 4 x 24 = 96. Those are multiples. Notice that connection? There are 24 4’s in 96. Classkick is like another review – to make sure you’re ready before [completing the Eureka problems].

Additionally, part of the teaching is around making the work readable. Mrs. Moon accepts and appreciates that the student drawings (the rectangles and equations) are messy, because she views that as part of the learning process. She doesn’t expect it to look perfect, but knows that with practice, the work will become more refined.

Mrs. Moon likes to use Classkick because she finds it user-friendly, and also appreciates the immediate feedback that she is able to give to students. Within each Classkickpage, she can assign a score. Students see that feedback the next time they login, and use that feedback to improve their next submission!